At the Beijing Motor Show earlier this year, Volkswagen showcased a concept hatchback called the Golf R 400. It was essentially the Golf R we already know and love, but with an even more powerful engine to make it the most potent take on the Golf since the GTI 650 concept of 2007. Only unlike that bonkers, W12-powered prototype, which was never intended as anything other than a show car, rumors have been percolating over the past half year that VW could actually put the Golf R 400 concept into p

If you're in the market for a German hot hatch and the GTI just won't do it for you, Volkswagen offers the more potent Golf R as well. And if you live in markets that aren't the United States, you can get your hands on the Scirocco R, too. But word has it that VW is keen to expand its flagship performance line further.

When Volkswagen revealed the Golf R 400 concept at the Beijing Motor Show last month, it emerged as the most extreme version of the hatchback we once called Rabbit since the bonkers GTI W12-650 concept of 2007. The main difference is that while that 641-horsepower, mid-engined, twelve-cylinder scalding hot hatch was never destined for production, the Golf R 400 is. Only it gets better than that.

UPDATE: A previous version of this story listed the Golf R 400 Concept's top speed as 201 miles per hour. This is incorrect. The correct top speed is 174 mph and the story has been edited to reflect that.

Several years ago, Volkswagen showed up at the annual Wörthersee expo with what could only be described as a concept worthy of pants-wetting excitement – at least, for hot hatch enthusiasts like me. What VW had done was shoehorn its twin-turbocarged, 6.0-liter W12 engine behind a Golf GTI's front seats, creating the GTI W12 650 – a car that could hit 60 miles per hour in 3.7 seconds and top out at a stunning 201 miles per hour. Of course, the thing never saw production, but Volk